


Prologue

by nerd_is_stored_in_the_me



Series: Agent Steel [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Hank Heywood is an asshole, How Do I Tag, Prologue, Rip Hunter is so Done, Time Bureau (DC's Legends of Tomorrow), smart Ava Sharpe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 06:02:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21441409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerd_is_stored_in_the_me/pseuds/nerd_is_stored_in_the_me
Summary: This is the prologue to my Agent steel fic.Rip needs extra funding for the upcoming break in time that the legends caused. He just needs to convince mister Heywood. He calls up his best agent to convince him. Unfortunately no one told Rip that just so happens to be mister Heywood's son
Relationships: Nate Heywood & Ava Sharpe, Rip Hunter & Ava Sharpe
Series: Agent Steel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545778
Kudos: 3





	Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of an introduction fic to my larger Agent Steel story.
> 
> It has almost no plot and is mostly just to set the stage. The real story is being written but I just thought it would be fun. I hope you enjoy it!

It was a day like any other at the time bureau. Fixing anachronisms, checking the timeline and doing an unholy amount of paperwork. Nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was normal for the average agent, keyword average. Because while most people at the bureau were peacefully guarding the timeline the higher-ups were panicking. This wasn’t as uncommon as they would like the ground agents to believe. They were only human after all and guarding history was quite the stressful job. You would be stressed too if the fate of the timeline rested in your hands. Could you keep a calm head when the Spartans discovered explosives and concurred all of Europe.

However none of that stress could compare to the pressure Rip and Ava were under now. They had to convince the representative of the board of defense to give them a greater budget for the upcoming tear in time. It had been hard enough to get any kind of funding in the first place seeing as most people believed time travel to be purely science fiction. It had taken Rip two whole months to convince people that time travel was real in the first place and then another to prove that the government needed the time-bureau. This would be even harder because the threat didn’t even exist yet. They would just have to trust Rip and if there is one thing the board isn’t then its trusting. 

The representative would come today. They weren’t allowed to tell the employees because technically they weren’t even allowed to know. How Ava had even managed to find out was still a mystery. Luckily they knew who they were sending. A man by the name of Hank Heywood. They hadn’t had enough time to do any real research on him but if the rumors were to be believed he was a stern man who didn’t tolerate any nonsense. The embodiment of the American ideal. It would be hard to sway him but they had a plan! 

Step 1: Ava would be the one to meet him. She was a model employee and it wouldn’t be suspicious for her to be at the entrance 

Step 2: Ava would act surprised and suggest that she take him on a tour through the bureau 

Step 3: the tour would take about ten minutes and “coincidentally” end at Rip’s office just as he was about to have his afternoon tea

Step 4: Rip would invite him to join him and they would strike up a conversation 

Step 5: they would talk about all the good the time-bureau was doing and to set an example they would call up their best employee

Step 6: the representative would be so impressed that he gave them their budget and leave immediately 

It was a foolproof plan. Of course their top agent didn’t know why he would be sent up but he would definitely behave professionally. He was their top agent after all. Now they only had to wait. Ava was pacing and Rip was staring at his paperwork like it had personally offended him. A sudden “Ding” signaled that it was time. 

Ava started walking towards the entrance. Repeating her excuse for being there in here head. She was about to head out and grab a coffee but it could wait. A good reason for her to be there but not to be in a hurry. Just as she arrived she could see a statures man walk into the building. He had the look on his face of a man who thought everyone was wasting his time. It wasn’t to unlikely that he thought they really were.

Ava put on the politest smile she had “Can I help you with anything sir?”

“Yes. Is this the time-bureau.” It was more a statement then a question

“Why yes it is. May I ask after the reason of your visit mister Heywood.” She had to show that she knew who he was but not why he was here 

“A surprise inspection. The board wants to check if you really deserve all the funding you get.” Ava winced internally. It was clear mister Heywood didn’t think so. And they were about to ask for more!

“I see. I must admit we are long overdue for one. Could I offer you a tour? I am Ava sharp, third in command at the time-bureau.” Mister Heywood seemed slightly surprised by her title. That meant he didn’t know much about the time-bureau. Good. That meant everything would be new to him. Meaning he would be more impressed. 

“I suppose that would be acceptable misses Sharp. Lead the way.”

Rip was waiting in his office. Everything was ready. The reports of their productivity just so happened to be on his desk, all the paperwork was triple checked and their best agent just so happened to not be busy. In exactly one minute Mister Heywood would walk in and Rip would coincidentally start his tea break giving them plenty of time to discuss their extra funding for the upcoming disaster. The reports would show that they were responsible with the money and their top agent would demonstrate that they would be able to handle the disaster on their own.

He could see Ava and mister Heywood out of the corner of his eye. Mister Heywood didn’t seem nearly as impressed as he should be by all the futuristic technology around him. He was either really good at hiding his emotions or he genuinely didn’t care about any of this. The second of those options was rather disconcerting. Their best tactic up to this point was wowing people until they were to amazed to argue against them. It had worked with most people seeing as time travel was a rather well loved concept and presenting people with the possibility of making that popular dream a reality was usually enough to get them to agree to almost anything. 

Rip quickly wiped the worry of his face when he heard a knock. He straitened his tie and pressed the button that opened the door just as Ava went to knock again. She instantly straitened. “Director Hunter. This is Mister Heywood from the board of directors. He is here to talk about our funding.”

Rip tried to sound pleasantly surprised. “Mister Heywood! It’s nice to meet you. I was just about to take my afternoon tea break. Would you care to join me.”

This didn’t have its intended effect. Instead of smiling pleasantly and telling Rip that he would love to Mister Heywood frowned and wrote something down on the notebook Rip had somehow failed to notice up to this point. “If you have time to have an afternoon tea break mister Hunter.” He said with disdain. “Then surely these anachronisms aren’t nearly as much of a threat as you said.”

Rip internally groaned. He should have thought about that. He couldn’t say why he usually didn’t have one because that would open questions about why he had one now which would eventually reveal that he’d known mister Heywood was coming. “I can assure you mister Heywood they are. I just think it’s important to calm the mind every once in a while. Miss Sharp can attest to the fact that I had some of my best ideas while having my afternoon tea.”

Ava quickly nodded in affirmation. Mister Heywood frown deepened. “Then I assume you have been skipping them recently seeing as there I haven’t seen anything worthy of funding since I got here.”  
He continued to write things in his little notebook. “I suggest you prove to me why this department even deserves to exist instead of having a tea party.”

“Yes of course mister Heywood. I happen to have the annual reports right here. I could also call up my best agent to give a personal report.” Rip hoped mister Heywood would agree to the second option. No matter how much he knew it was necessary paperwork still made him want to jump into the void. 

“That would be acceptable director Hunter. Hopefully he spends his time more practically then you.” Rip winced at the backhanded comment. It was clear mister Heywood wasn’t impressed. Hopefully their top agent would convince him otherwise.

“Ava would you please fetch him for us.” Ava quickly walked out of the office. 

Rip and mister Heywood started talking business. Debating whether giving every agent a tailored suit was necessary. Mister Heywood thought it was a waste of money while Rip argued it made them seem more trustworthy and professional. What he didn’t say was that it was mostly because he thought they looked cool. They moved on to Taco Monday. Not only did mister Heywood think it unnecessary he also found having a taco Monday and not Tuesday weird and overcomplicated. Rip was starting to wonder what took Ava so long. Since he had run out of ways to defend Taco Monday and he really didn’t want to lose it. Having tacos a day earlier than the rest of the country was one of the few fun things they actually did.

Luckily Ava came back before mister Heywood could question why they even had a time-bureau. What was that show doctor Palmer sometimes referenced? Saved by the knock? It had been something like that. Rip finally knew what he meant by that. The sense of relieve he felt could rival all the times he heard Gideon after a crash. 

“Ah, there they are!” Rip sounded like a prisoner of war seeing his seeing his saviors. “Mister Heywood let me introduce you to our top agent. Agent, this is quite funny actually, Heywood.”

It really was quite the coincidence. All humor left him however when he saw the look on agent Heywood’s face. Rip had seen that man face down armies with a smile and defeat dinosaurs with a laugh. The bureau liked to joke that the day that agent Heywood looked scared of something was the day that the world ended. Apparently the world was doomed because instead of his usual smile Rip could see a look of complete and utter terror. Rip turned to mister Heywood to see him just as shocked as Agent Heywood. This was the most emotion he had seen from the man all day. 

“Nathaniel!?” He questioned like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There was an almost awed expression on his face. Like he was seeing a ghost.

“Hank.” Agent Heywood squeaked. That was weird. He was almost the complete opposite of mister Heywood. Instead of awe or wonder he seemed scared and slightly annoyed. But most of all he seemed nervous. Like he’d rather be anywhere but here and would flee as soon as someone let him.

Mister Heywood suddenly turned to Rip with a furious expression on his face. “Could someone explain to me why the hell my son’s here!”

Ah that would explain it. Agent Heywood never mentioned his family. The only time he did was when Gary had managed to get him drunk at the office party (a surprisingly hard feat to accomplish). He had spent the entire time complaining about his father. Never calling him dad, just Hank. Ava had been the one to figure out Hank was his dad and even that was from context. 

it should have been obvious that the two of them were related. In Rip’s defense Heywood was a pretty common name and they looked nothing alike. Agent Heywood (or Nate as he insisted on being called) was one of the most emotional men Rip had ever met. Rivaled only by doctor Palmer! He was friends with almost everyone in the bureau and even managed to make Ava laugh! How could someone so fun be related to a man that wanted to remove taco Monday!?

Rip realized he should have answered mister Heywood’s question by now. He had just been staring at him in shock for the past thirty seconds. For some reason his brain was refusing to form an actual sentence. Not the best impression to make. The only word to leave his mouth would haunt him for the rest of his live.

“Bullocks.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it and if you didn't constructive criticism is always welcome! Comments are always appreciated and as I said before the real story is being worked on! Have a wonderful day/night!


End file.
